THIS WEEK'S EDUCATION RESEARCH REPORT
Literacy, teaching skills lacking internationally
A new UNESCO report reveals that a global learning crisis is costing governments $129 billion a year. Ten per cent of global spending on primary education is being lost on poor quality education that is failing to ensure that children learn. This situation leaves one in four young people in poor countries unable to read a single sentence. The Report concludes that good teachers are the key to impr
JAN 30
Trip to an art museum leads to significantly stronger critical thinking skills
. “Learning to Think Critically: A Visual Art Experiment,” by Daniel H. Bowen, Jay P. Greene, and Brian Kisida, published in the January/February 2014 issue of Educational Researcher (ER), a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association (AERA)finds that exposure to the arts improves students’ critical thinking skills. Students randomly selected to participate in a half-day
Low achievement: It's not race or poverty, it's other risk factors
This study investigated the unique relations between school concentrations of student risk factors and measures of reading, mathematics, and attendance. It used an integrated administrative data system to create a combined data set of risks (i.e., birth risks, teen mother, low maternal education, homelessness, maltreatment, and lead exposure) for an entire cohort of third-grade students in a large
JAN 29
Researchers Find that Kindergarten Is the New First Grade
Kindergarten classrooms nationwide have changed dramatically since the late 1990s and nearly all of these changes are in the direction of a heightened focus on academics, particularly literacy, according to researchers from EdPolicyWorks, the center on education policy and workforce competitiveness at the University of Virginia.In a working paper titled “Is Kindergarten the New First Grade? The Ch
Intuitive number games boost children's math performance
A quick glance at two, unequal groups of paper clips (or other objects) leads most people to immediately intuit which group has more. In a new study, researchers report that practicing this kind of simple, instinctive numerical exercise can improve children's ability to solve math problems.A report of the study appears in the journal Cognition."We wanted to know how basic intuitions about nu
JAN 28
Parenting Plays Key Role as African American Boys Move from Preschool to Kindergarten
A new study from UNC’s Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) has found that parenting affects the academic and social performance of African American boys as they move from preschool to kindergarten.“The transition to kindergarten can be challenging for many children due to new expectations, social interactions, and physiological changes,” said Iheoma Iruka, FPG’s associate directo
State implementation of education reforms
A new report from the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance summarizes state implementation of key education reform strategies promoted under the Recovery Act.Major findings include:State implementation of education reforms in 2010-11 varied depending on the area of reform and specific strategy being examined. For example, in the area of educator workforce development, j
80 percent of lower-income fourth graders and 66 percent of all kids are not reading proficiently
The Annie E. Casey Foundation finds that 80 percent of lower-income fourth graders and 66 percent of all kids are not reading proficiently - a key predictor of a student’s future educational and economic success. If this trend continues, the country will not have enough skilled workers for an increasingly competitive global economy by the end of this decade."Early Reading Proficiency in the U
Using curriculum to stop bullying
Jennifer E. Beebe PhD, says the key to stop bullying is to include anti-bullying education as part of the regular school curriculum. Beebe conducts research in the areas of bullying and cyber-bullying."It's just as important to teach empathy to students as it is to teach them science," says Beebe, assistant professor of counseling and human services at Canisius College. "We can incr
Transfer Incentives Produce Disappointing Results
Will paying excellent teachers a bonus to transfer to low-performing schools help the students who attend them?That was the question posed by a recent extensive and well-executed study conducted by Mathematica Policy Research with funding from the U.S. Department of Education. Early data, however, suggests the results are disappointing, according to a new review of the research released today.Math
JAN 27
Two-pronged disadvantaged youth intervention raises high school math grades significantly
There is growing concern that improving the academic skills of disadvantaged youth is too difficult and costly, so policymakers should instead focus either on vocationally oriented instruction for teens or else on early childhood education. Yet this conclusion may be premature given that so few previous interventions have targeted a potential fundamental barrier to school success: "mismatch&q
High school quality and student success at college
In recent years, many states, including California, Texas, and Oregon, have changed admissions policies to increase access to public universities for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. A key concern, however, is how these students will perform. This paper examines the relationship between high school quality and student success at college. Using newly available administrative data from
JAN 25
Price Sensitivity Of College Application Decisions
A small change in the cost of sending test scores to colleges can have a large impact on the number of schools to which students apply and consequently, students may end up attending more selective colleges, according to Small Differences that Matter: Mistakes in Applying to College (NBER Working Paper No. 19480) by Amanda Pallais. For years, students taking the ACT, a standard college-entrance ex
JAN 23
Academic Success of Hispanic Youth Improve as Ability to Speak English and Connect with non-Hispanics Grows
Hispanic teenagers who learn English well enough to engage in friendships and activities with members of mainstream U.S. culture are more likely to succeed in school and feel better about themselves and their futures, according to findings from “Cross-cultural Adaptation of Hispanic Youth: A Study of Communication Patterns, Functional Fitness, and Psychological Health,” published online today in t
JAN 22
Summary of Research on the Effectiveness of Math Professional Development Approaches
This study identified and screened 910 research studies in a comprehensive literature search for effectiveness studies of math professional development approaches. Of these 910 studies, 643 examined professional development approaches related to math in grades K-12 and were conducted in the United States. Of the 643 studies, 32 focused primarily on math professional development provided to teacher
Can student reading growth during the year be used to predict scores on an end-of-year standardized state assessment?
REL Southeast at Florida State University examined this question using archival data from nearly 800,000 students in grades 3-10 in Florida. The study compared student growth in reading comprehension over the school year to scores on the end-of-year Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT).Using archival data for 2009/10, the study analyzes a stratified random sample of 800,000 Florida student
JAN 21
Students remember more with personalized review, even after classes end
Struggling to remember information presented months earlier is a source of anxiety for students the world over. New research suggests that a computer-based individualized study schedule could be the solution. The study findings show that personalized review helped students remember significantly more material on a tests given at the end of the semester and a month later."Our research shows th
Report on Teacher Observation Fails to Seriously Address Challenges
The recent report Fixing Classroom Observations promises remedies for shortcomings in the classroom observations that are a key part of teacher evaluation. But the report itself comes up short, according to a new review. The report’s problems are several, writes reviewer Jennie Whitcomb, but they boil down to the fact that the proposed remedies are poorly grounded and unlikely to be very helpful.
JAN 16
Later school start times improve sleep and daytime functioning in adolescents
Julie Boergers, Ph.D., a psychologist and sleep expert from the Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center, recently led a study linking later school start times to improved sleep and mood in teens. The article, titled "Later School Start Time is Associated with Improved Sleep and Daytime Functioning in Adolescents," appears in the current issue of the Journal of Developmental & Behav
University Rankings Influence Number and Competitiveness of Applicants
How universities fare on reputational quality-of-life and academic rankings – such as those published by the Princeton Review or U.S. News & World Report – can have a measurable effect on the number of applications they – and their competitors – receive and on the academic competitiveness of the resulting freshman class, according to a new study.The study, “True for Your School? How Changing R
Do Disadvantaged Students Get Less Effective Teaching?
Newly emerging research is beginning to shed light on the extent to which disadvantaged students have access to effective teaching, based on value added measures. "Value added" is a teacher's contribution to students' learning gains. Because individual researchers have varied in their presentation of this evidence, it is challenging for practitioners to draw lessons from the data. This b
JAN 14
Improving academic content coverage in kindergarten
Little research has examined the relationship between academic content coverage in kindergarten and student achievement. Using nationally representative data, this study examines the association between reading and mathematics content coverage in kindergarten and student learning, both overall and for students who attended preschool, Head Start, or participated in other child care prior to kinderg
Research-based strategies help reduce underage drinking
Strategies recommended by the Surgeon General to reduce underage drinking have shown promise when put into practice, according to scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health. These approaches include nighttime restrictions on young drivers and strict license suspension policies, interventions focused on partnerships betwee
Passing bowls family-style teaches day-care kids to respond to hunger cues
When children and child-care providers sit around a table together at mealtime, passing bowls and serving themselves, children learn to recognize when they are full better than they do when food is pre-plated for them, reports a new University of Illinois study of feeding practices of two- to five-year-old children in 118 child-care centers."Family-style meals give kids a chance to learn abou
School Drug Tests Don't Work, but 'Positive Climate' Might
School drug testing does not deter teenagers from smoking marijuana, but creating a "positive school climate" just might, according to research reported in the January issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.An estimated 20 percent of U.S. high schools have drug testing; some target students suspected of abusing drugs, but often schools randomly test students who are going o